Conventionally, it has been carried out that a picked flower was dried to maintain the beauty thereof and used as an ornament.
For example, a flower is dried to make a dried and pressed flower, which is pasted to paper for use with a greeting card or which is pasted to cloth to provide the cloth with a pattern of the flower, etc.
In this case, a traditional method for obtaining a dried and pressed flower comprises sandwiching a picked flower between sheets of paper, pressing it for suitable number of days, and thereafter removing the flower.
Recent, in order to maintain color of a prepared flower, a process has been carried out which comprises putting a drying agent, for example, such as silica gel onto a bottom of a small box, placing a perforated plate thereon, placing paper, a picked flower, paper and an air-permeable urethane sheet on the plate and alternately placing paper, a flower and paper thereon so that three to four flowers are placed, closing the small box, and leaving them for about 2 to 7 days while removing air out of the small box. A flower removed from the small box by the above-described method has color and gloss close to a natural flower, which maintains the beauty for a relatively long period of time.
In this case, if a natural flower is treated with citric acid before putting it into a small box, it advantageously prevents colors of red and pink from becoming blackish.
As methods for utilization of a pressed flower, many methods are used. For example, a utilization method is known from Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-239091 which comprises directly laying out a dried and pressed flower on paper, preparing a cover material with a film and a sheet integrated, putting the cover over the pressed flower, and heating and pressing the whole body to provide a postcard. In this utilization method, a surface of the dried and pressed flower is covered with a film so that mechanical contact from the surface can be prevented, and water is not directly moved into cut flowers from the surface.
However, since the back side merely has paper, air as well as vapor can freely pass therethrough with only a slight restriction. Accordingly, the dried and pressed flower is in the same state as with no protective means. Contact with vapor or water is not preferable for a dried and pressed flower having moisture in the range of 10 to 20%. With the passage of time, suction of water and oxidization progress and fading progresses. Then, color and gloss of a natural flower are completely lost within several weeks.
For overcoming the aforesaid disadvantages noted with respect to the aforementioned utilization method, a method is known from Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-231091 which comprises sandwiching a dried and pressed flower between two films having a low melting point and melting these two films to seal the dried and pressed flower from top and bottom. A further utilization method is known from Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-112784 which comprises placing on a film having a low melting point a film having a higher melting point than the former, and fixing the whole to cloth.
These two examples have been devised to attach a flower to cloth. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-231091 proposes a method comprising sandwiching a dried and pressed flower between films having a melting point which is molten at approximately 95.degree. C., pressing and heating the same to integrate the dried and pressed flower with the low melting point film, then placing it on cloth, and again pressing and heating it to place the flower on cloth.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-112784 provides a method comprising placing a dried and pressed flower on a film having a low melting point at about 95.degree. C. a film which is molten at about 110.degree. C., first integrating the low melting point film with the high melting point film, then placing it on cloth, and pressing and heating the same to melt the high melting point film to integrate it with the cloth. According to this publication, an iron is used as a pressing and heating means, and when a flower is placed on a handkerchief or silk cloth, it does not slip out during washing.
In these two well-known examples, since the back side also has a film, as compared with the well-known example previously mentioned, it seems that the flower can be sufficiently protected from mechanical damage from the exterior and from the entry of air and vapor.
However, even if entry of air and water from the exterior is not present, a dried and pressed flower in this well-known example becomes degraded. That is, water, vapor and air are present between the low melting point films, or between petals, and between hairs on the surface of a small stalk. Even if a flower is sandwiched between two upper and lower films having a low melting point, which are pressed and heated to provide an integral configuration, air, water and vapors become in their greater part sealed as they are. Air and vapors are sometimes present in the form of foams within the film whose upper and lower portions are integral, which is unsightly. With the passage of time, the sealed air, water or vapor gradually act on a flower to change the color and gloss thereof. The time required for such change is longer than that of the first well-known example in which the back side comprises paper but is not sufficient.
The present invention overcomes the drawbacks noted above with respect to prior art and provides a sealed ornament of a dried and pressed flower which can maintain color and gloss of a dried and pressed flower for longer periods of time and can be used without modification.